By: Ahmad Shabir
Anantnag: The water paucity to the most populous village, Khiram in South Kashmir’s Bijbehara area has come to an end as the Public health Engineering, now Jal Shakti Department has successfully completed the construction work of two bore wells within the shortest span, bringing the respite tot the people living in the village.
The residents of the Durpora and Khodpora localities of the village were facing acute shortage of drinking water for over a decade as the multi-crore regional water supply scheme constructed more than a decade ago to provide water to the village had proved to be failure.
Last year, the Jal Shakti department in order to provide relief to the people of the village decided to construct two bore wells. The department soon after floating tenders started construction on both the bore wells.
Local residents said that the work on both bore wells was supervised by the executive engineer PHE division Bijbehara, Mohammad Haneef as a result both saw the completion well on time.
The officials of the department have earned all the praise from locals for completion of the project in a short span of time.
“It was due to the efforts of the officers of the department that the bore wells meant to provide portable drinking water to the village were completed on time. It is for the first time that any developmental work in the village has been completed on such a priority. We are highly thankful to the officials who prioritised this work bringing a major relief to the villagers,” said a resident Abdul Majid.
Another resident Basheer Ahmad showering raise over the officials of the PHE department said that the construction of bore wells on war footing basis has put end to the miseries of thousands of people.
“Since the regional water supply scheme had proved a failure, more than half of the population of the village were facing hardships due to the non-availability of drinking water. But the construction of bore wells has proved to be major relief for us,” Ahmad said.
The scheme was completed at the cost of 1 crore 50 lakh rupees by PHE division Bijbehara and is benefitting the population of four thousand people. The localities being supplied water from the scheme include , Durpora, Hajipora , Patnu and Darga Mohalla.
“t is after several decades that our wait for the portable drinking water has ended. Officials of the department including executive engineer, PHE division Bijbehara and deputy commissioner Anantnag who ensured the completion of borewells on time deserve all the appreciation,” another local, Bilal Ahmad said.
Officials of the PHE also see the completion of the scheme as the department’s major success.
“People of this village were really in desperation due to the non-availablility of water. The construction of the scheme which was recently commissioned successfully has put end to the water woes of this huge chunk of population,” Executive engineer , PHE division Bijbehara , Mohammad Haneef said.
The credit for this success, he said, goes to all the officers including AEE, JE and other field staff.
